September days

September went by so quickly! Here are some snapshots:

Discovering worms!  (after so much handling I started to feel sorry for them, and switched them out occasionally as I was planting.)  Later he came up to me with a closed fist and said "Bug, Mommy!"  When I asked to see, well, there indeed was a huge live bug.  That's my boy!  He closed his hand again and said "Ukky!  I throw bug away." and led me over to the garbage can so I could open the lid for him, he threw it away, then returned to what he'd been doing.

Sept 02 is the anniversary of Elias U.S. adoption, and Sept 11 is Ethiopian New Year.  We made cupcakes with Ethiopian colors for daycare treats and Elias wore his special celebration clothes given to him by the orphanage (they were a bit large back then!)  Entukatash 2003, everyone!

Of course, there's Farmers' Market on the Square all summer...

 

...and we had a good time visiting the Vilas Zoo...

 

...and an even better time at the new Madison Childrens Museum.  Wow; amazing place.  Elias LOVES it, and we really haven't seen it all yet.  The first day he participated in a percussion "class" for kids <5.  I was very impressed the guy could keep a large group of little kids on task and even starting and stopping in unison (well, mostly).  This coincided with the week that Elias suddenly "got rhythm," or at least, I noticed him clapping his hands with the beat on Rich Mullins CDs.  He did pretty darn well with the drums at MCM, too!

We also fit in a trip to Cheese Days down in Monroe.  We got there a little too early for a lot of the events, but at least we didn't have to wait 2.5 hrs to get some of the best cheese curds on earth.  One of these pictures is of Elias licking his curd--he doesn't really have the proper technique down yet.